Every now and then its worth taking a step back and checking up on how stories are being reported about campaign finance. Yesterday, Eliza Newlin Carney wrote in an article for Roll Call (New FCC Disclosures Reveal Underground Election):
A trove of new public records recently opened up by the Federal Communications Commission sheds light on the ways undisclosed political ads are creating an underground midterm election that’s increasingly hidden from view.
It’s already well known that unreported political spending is rising, thanks in part to Supreme Court rulings that have nullified campaign finance limits on several fronts. As of April 30, undisclosed political spending was three times higher than at the same point in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The article continues:
“It really has demonstrated how incessant the advertising is, and how much ‘off-the-radar’ political advertising has been spent,” said Kiely, Sunlight’s managing editor.
First of all, an election is this thing that happens when people go and cast a ballot to vote for who they want to be their elected leaders (or for or against a ballot measure). In general, there is an election day that is publicly announced, after which votes are counted and winners are declared. Unless we’re talking about voter suppression – which this article is not – there simply is no “underground midterm election that’s increasingly hidden from view.”
Second, if it is “already well known that unreported political spending is rising,” and that “undisclosed political spending was three times higher than at the same point in 2012,” how is this spending “undisclosed?” If a foundation can gather this information and a respected journalist can report on it in a widely-read publication without having to resort to illegal measures to gather this information, then the information simply isn’t “undisclosed” and “off-the-radar.” Quite to the contrary, this issue has been reported on so often in so many mediums that the only way it could actually be “off-the-radar” for people is if they actively avoid any sort of reporting that has to do with politics.
Finally, this is an article about TV broadcast advertising. Broadcasting literally means to “tell (something) to many people; make widely known.” These ads are beamed into many thousands of people’s homes, hardly qualifying as being “off-the-radar.” Not being able to pull up internet records of every single cent Crossroads GPS spent on broadcasting issue advertisements from one’s perch in Washington DC does not mean that there is some sort of “underground” movement; it simply means that people speak about politicians and political issues in other parts of the country without having to inform people in DC every time they do so.
